ALFsplaining

The second part of our look back at the entire third series of ALF and this very podcast presented by Double Sided Heavy Duty 3m Clear Sticky Tape (Unbranded) gets round to the listeners' questions. As ever, you played a blinder with some eye-opening, funny and smart missives inquiring about all things Shumway from past, present and future. And maybe some of the smells too. Note: If this is yo...

Can that really be another full season of the Old ALFer's adventures done? What will Ben Baker and John Matthews do when its over? Well, the same old nonsense probably which is on full display in this special looking at the third run of both ALF and ALFsplaining which is only slightly in the shadow of powdered egg and child endangerment. Its such a big season to discuss that we've split th...

Its another very special ALFsplaining, friends! And, despite everything, Ben Baker and John Matthews are being trusted with a guest! Someone who was actually on screen in "ALF" too! ...and not even Sassy Plumber Number Three or anything but an ongoing character! Josh Blake has quickly become one of our favourites in season three of ALF with his increased role as Jake Ochmonek, the street...

"ALF re-enacts scenes from The Dick Van Dyke Show, as Kate prepares to give birth." A series of comical events mean Dick Van Dyke is without his trousers at work. Hang on, wrong script... It's here! It's finally here! After a season battered by strikes, unexpected pregnancies and various other emergencies, Kate is about to give birth to that most beautiful thing - the end of the...

"After experiencing a mild earthquake, ALF prepares for the worst." Time for a quick tremble? ALF certainly doesn't as he faces his first of Los Angeles' seemingly common quakes and goes into several modes - all of them troubling and weird. Just another day at the ALF factory then with your head foremen Ben Baker and John Matthews . Want to get in our protective bunker? Why not c...

"With some old movies to entertain him, ALF imagines in black and white that he and the Tanners are silent movie stars." It's a dream sequence episode....no, wait it's an obsession of the week episode....hang on, wait - can it be both? Kings of the golden silents Ben Baker and John Matthews crank the film up to see what chaos the little scamp is going to get into next. But mostly...

"Jake's mother (Randee Heller) visits him and ALF catches her stealing Kate's brooch." The prospect of an episode based entirely around the Pat Benetar-faced teenage neighbour of the Tanners would have filled us with misery once upon a time but Ben Baker and John Matthews have come to enjoy his interactions with our beloved furry pal so this should be a good one. Just watch your...

"To prepare Brian for his Boy Scout trip, ALF and Jake camp out to overcome his fear of the outdoors at night." We always suspected ALF was a midnight creeper and now we have the proof as Ben Baker and John Matthews grab their bivouacs for an evening under the stars with a couple of young friends. There's nothing funny about it....but when did that stop ALFsplaining, eh? Want to help...

"ALF acquires an ant farm and then arranges a funeral after the ants die." Death comes for us all one day and for some ants ALF has had about five minutes that moment arrives midway through this episode where he experiences grief apparently for the first time. Despite all that "planet with everyone he knew and loved exploding" business. Stood paying their respects are Ben Baker...

"Thanks to ALF's mismanaged phone calls, Lynn gets two dates with Danny and Randy for a dance." Well that sounds like...a different sitcom. And indeed this week we are pivoting to "LynnSplaining" as the absence of other characters means she takes the driving seat in a plot ripped straight from "Saved by the Bell". Is ALF off doing one of his special secret South A...

"ALF blames his streak of bad luck on a Melmac superstition of burning a history book" Its time for another bewitching trip into Tannerland with the King of All Our Fates, Mr Shumway. We delve deep into Melmac lore for a distinctly meaty sort of ritual. Doing the Hokey Pokey alongside them are your regular hosts Ben Baker and John Matthews. Want to ward off the evils of Earth based terribleness? W...

"Jake has a crush on a girl at school named Laura but cannot express his feelings. ALF, inspired by the story of Cyrano de Bergerac, ghostwrites love letters for Jake." Its time for proclamations of love from the lad with the big snout - yes Cyrano de Melmac is let loose on the emotions of a teenage boy...and it might actually work? There's even a guest star who went on to be quite f...

"An extortionist threatens to turn ALF in to the immigration authorities for being an illegal alien." Its a high stakes adventure as ALF shifts into being the paranoid sci-fi thriller it always could've been with a suprisingly suspenseful tale that could still play strongly in the modern climate. Ben Baker and John Matthews are in the middle of it with one of those big conspiracy boa...

"When Raquel plans a surprise baby shower for Kate, one of the neighbours brings her baby to the party. Meanwhile, ALF has an allergic reaction to a baby and tries to move in with Jake." Oh hey, Kate is pregnant! We'd forgotten being as the previous five episodes failed to mention it once. If you wanted to see an episode of "ALF" which was not very much about ALF and more a...

"ALF believes that a reclusive new neighbour is ⁠Elvis Presley⁠, and is further convinced when the man displays Elvis-like tendencies" Uh huh. Thank you very much. Pie and chips twice. Just some of the Elvis based phrases we all love and admire - and nobody more than ALF who dons his conspiracy cape to find out if a man who doesnt look or sound very much like the King might actually be h...

"When Jake easily repairs Willie's car, he and ALF think the mechanic may be sabotaging the car for needless repeat business, so they start Operation Sam-Scam to furnish proof" Now this sounds like a bit of classic ALF roister-doistery of the highest level with hidden camera hi-jinx, teenage lust, the correct way to score darts, real life undercover TV reporting, cuckery, microwavabl...

"After a verbose houseguest of Willie's reveals he is in the Witness Protection Program, ALF is convinced gangsters are stalking the Tanners." Its a caper episode! Or is it a sensitive look at someone on the spectrum? Or maybe its instead a practical guide to large net crafting? Ben - please call me Benji - Baker and John - please dont call me ever - Matthews dont know and they'r...

"Willie introduces ALF to simple magic tricks." And 'simple' is very much the watchword for this strangely empty sort of episode. Still lots of great gags and business like a trick made inside Kate's sun hat and straight up arson from Willie. The stupifying Ben Baker and John Matthews are your glamourous assistants trying to work out Captain Eo, Senor Wences, "Racy" Don Johnson, Nina Buckley and A...

"ALF mistakenly believes his cousin Blinky is living in Barstow, getting himself captured by a deranged freak show owner." Its a tale of secret cousins, trash newspapers, kidnap, taking a glimpse and unimaginable powers. Ben Baker the Amazing Aardvark and John Matthews the Hairy Parrot stand exhausted in the middle of it. Glue an antenna on this! Want to find a friend or two? Why not con...

"Seeing Willie and Kate reminiscing over their old stuff in the attic and show the family film footage of them attending the Woodstock festival, ALF asks Willie about the 1960s, causing Willie to ponder if he abandoned the ideals he held during those years." The Wonder Years was doing big business in 1988 with its melancholic boomer look back at the sixties so if its good enough for Fred...

"Kate starts working and then discovers that she is pregnant." My that is inconvenient timing but if anyone knows how schedule a joke its Willie Tanner and his clearly fully functional downstairs which has put a fictional baby in Kate's fiction factory. Its an episode clearly written on the fly to accommodate Anne Schedeen's real-life pregnancy and Pod Detectives Baker and Matthe...

"ALF must avoid the Alien Task Force when a homeless guy blows the whistle on him." Im sure he's had worse blown on him....I mean, erm....happy Thanksgiving. Or Fappinao if you're from Melmac like ALF who is in danger of being pulled apart for experiments thanks to the shady behaviour of Flakey Pete. Its almost like his name was trying to tell us something. Sat in the van waiting for action are Be...

"The Tanners are invited to a Thanksgiving dinner with the Ochmonek's bizarre relatives" TWO PARTS? And we're getting double Trevor and Raquel?? Strap us down and feed us rubber vomit! And who wrote this? The bloke who did ALF's Christmas Special? Oh ffffff...... ...well, this is going to be an interesting Fappiano for Ben Baker and John Matthews. But could it be a miracle? I...

NOTE: If the video doesnt play, check out the alternate source here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovYesOJsi88 And this is the panto poster we are discussing: https://bsky.app/profile/pantosplaining.bsky.social/post/3m52374ra622q If you've got this far into the series of "ALFsplaining" you'll be unsurprised that Ben Baker and John Matthews are pretty obsessional men. Not about anything predictab...

If you've got this far into the series of "ALFsplaining" you'll be unsurprised that Ben Baker and John Matthews are pretty obsessional men. Not about anything predictable of course - this ALF podcast proves that! But as we've a week between episodes of the sitcom, we thought you might like to learn about another of our big shared loves - panto posters. Listen along to the pil...